


Kitten Heels

by Neffectual



Series: Violet 'Verse [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Outing, Outing without consent, Selina Kyle has a heart of gold, Trans Female Character, bruce is an ass, trans Jason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 00:33:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4766825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neffectual/pseuds/Neffectual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce tells Selina about Violet, and she has to make it right, somehow, that he should never have been the one to tell her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kitten Heels

They’ve been together all night, letting the Robins handle the streets for once. Selina’s sitting up, ready to pull her catsuit back on and head back out into the night when Bruce puts a hand on her arm, gentle, and makes her pause.

“Another round, Bats? A girl’s got to have something to look forward to for next time.” The look on his face stops her short, and she allows herself to be pulled back against his body.

“Has Jason ever… said anything about….” He trails off, and Selina tilts her head to one side, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, “He said he wants to be a girl.”

Selina is out from under his arm and across the room before Bruce has finished speaking, and she ignores his confused look.

“Firstly, no, she didn’t, secondly, she, thirdly… what made you think you could tell me?”

She’s furious, fuming that she knows something Jason wasn’t going to tell her, probably wouldn’t have told her in years, not until she had to, and she’s so angry with Bruce for telling her like that.

“I don’t know how to cope with this, Selina.”

She dresses swiftly, still angry, but knowing she’s going to have to stay until she can make this right, until Bruce works out that he’s being a stubborn idiot as per usual.

“You had no right to tell me that.”

“So it upsets you, too?”

Trust him to get the wrong end of the stick every single time. She reminds herself that this is Bruce, her lover of two decades and change, and that she doesn’t hate him, even when he’s a meatheaded lunk. By the time she sits back down on the edge of the bed, he’s pulled the sheets back over himself and is sitting up. He doesn’t reach out to touch her, knowing she’s angry, and she just wishes he could show as much tact over this as he does her rage.

“No, Jay being a woman doesn’t upset me – “

“Violet. That’s the name he – she’s chosen.”

“Violet, then.”

It’s a good sign, he’s changed a pronoun, he’s made sure she knows the right name to use, but it doesn’t excuse him telling her about any of this. She’s not seen the kid in too long, can barely remember her as anything but Jason Todd, back from the dead and pissed off about it.

“Violet being a woman doesn’t upset me, Bruce, it’s got nothing to do with me. What upsets me is that you told me without asking her first. What if she doesn’t want anyone else to know – especially outside of your goody-goody side of things? What if she wanted to tell me herself?”

Bruce looks like he’s thinking, a face rarely seen on him unless he’s wearing the cowl, although she’s not fooled by the bluster of the billionaire playboy exterior.

“Why wouldn’t he – “

“She.” Selina says, more sharply than she’d meant to, but he had better get used to it quickly if he doesn’t want to fuck up anything else about the damn kids he keeps collecting. He’s already got this one killed, he may as well not screw up her pronouns, too.

“She – how do you know so much about this, anyway?”

She shakes her head, as if it’s complicated to think of people as people, but maybe his mind is so full of black and white, good and bad, that there’s no room in that for those who cross boundaries and step outside carefully structured lines. She wants to give him the benefit of the doubt, but she’s starting to think he wanted to complain to her more than he wanted help with Violet.

“Impolite. Carry on.” She makes sure her voice carries the malice it normally does when there’s a whip in her hand, and sees him sit up a little straighter.

“Why wouldn’t she want me to tell people? She wanted to tell me, so she must want people to know.”

“You’re her father, Bruce.” Selina says, shaking her head in disbelief, “Of course she told you. Maybe she told you before she told Dick, because she needed your approval. Maybe she told him first because it’s important for him to know, I don’t know, and nor do you. It’s up to her.”

“Why couldn’t she just tell me this?” Bruce says, wounded, and that’s it, she’s lost her patience with him. This isn’t about what he wants, but clearly he isn’t about to see that.

“Buy some books, Bruce, use the internet, talk to her, but don’t you dare fuck up your kid. She’s been teetering on the dark side for a while now, and you don’t want to be what pushes her over to our side. Because we will welcome her with open arms and open hearts, and if you’re going to sit there and ‘poor me’ about it all, then you don’t deserve her.”

She’s out of the window before he can say another word, angry and aching, and wondering if she can get some of the girls together to make up a little present box for Violet without telling them why. She smiles, shrugging her shoulder on the rooftops. Not like they won’t understand why she won’t tell them.

 

It’s a few months before she sees the kid, and notices the red polish on the fingernails, the difference in the way she moves, the way her head turns like she’s used to longer hair, and it makes Selina smile to see the girl growing like this, forming herself with no preconceptions.

“You look good.” She says as she perches next to Red Hood and smiles, wide. 

“Ah, Catwoman, bane of the Batman’s bedsheets.”

Fuck, the kid’s always been funny, always been bright like a fire, and Selina thinks that, out of all the baby birds Bruce has taken in, she could love this one. It’s not the first time she’s wanted to take Red Hood under her wing.

“Put something together for you.” She says, and hands over a box. When the girl goes to open it, she shakes her head, “Best to wait until you’re alone. And I’m sorry about this. But your father is fool.”

Violet’s mouth twists for a second – worry, fear, apprehension, and Selina wants to punch Bruce’s lights out for making her worry. Before the girl can say anything else, she takes her leave, knowing Hood will prefer to check out the mystery box than chase her down. She just hopes she hasn’t upset the poor girl.

 

“I never got the chance to say thanks.” Red Hood says, landing next to her on the roof and nearly giving Selina a heart attack – not that she’ll admit it to the cheeky youngling next to her – but she settles down again when she realises who it is.

“I wasn’t sure you’d want to.” She admits, shrugging.

“He’s an ass.” Violet says, and it takes Selina a few moments to spot the heels added onto the boots, the subtle way the plating bends around her chest, and the slash of red lipstick on her mouth echoing the colour of her cowl, “You’re not.”

“I do my best, kitten.” Selina purrs, and Violet laughs, a startlingly pretty sound.

“Of course you’d call me that.” She shakes her head, and Selina can see where her hair is growing out, under the cowl, “No, don’t look like that, I like it. I liked the heels, too, come to that.”

Selina leans back, relaxing a little more.

“He should never have told me.” She says, and feels Violet put a hand on her shoulder, “It wasn’t his place, but – “

“But he did, and you didn’t abuse that. It… means a lot, that I can trust you.”

Selina looks at this young woman, changing the way the Batfamily has worked for years, changing all Bruce’s carefully laid plans and doing it all with such style and aplomb.

“Anything you need, kitten. Cowl or not. You know where I live.”

Violet smiles – not the grin she wears, the predatory smile, but a true, honest smile. She looks so young that Selina’s heart aches for her, like a girl just coming into her own at thirty. 

“Well, the streets won’t keep themselves safe. Enjoy whatever heist you’re up to tonight, Catwoman.”

She grapples off to another roof, and Selina just watches her go for a moment, a strike of crimson against the black Gotham night. If she was the poetic type, she’d think it was a metaphor for how Violet’s going to shake up the Bats, but as it is, she just hopes she gets to see Violet outside of the cape soon. She could do with training up a replacement one of these days.


End file.
